A hybrid model of knowledge management for new service development

Although many theories regarding the implementation of knowledge management (KM) in organizations have been proposed and studied, most applications tend to stand alone without incorporating the business processes. Different categories of knowledge provide different benefits and how to integrate various categories of KM into a hybrid approach as an effective KM manner remains strategically important, and yet is still understudied. Therefore, in this paper a hybrid model that integrates principal KM applications for new service development (NSD) and the measurement of the resulting financial benefits have been developed. The proposed KM model incorporates newsgroups, knowledge forums, knowledge asset management and knowledge application processes as a hybrid means for sharing organizational knowledge along two axes, explicit vs. implicit and individual vs. collective. One of the largest management consulting companies in Taiwan, China, whose process model of NSD was standing alone with KM applications, was selected for the case study. A set of hybrid KM processes was developed to implement the proposed KM model, and it illustrates an application with greater financial benefits for integrating hybrid KM practices into the business process. Based on knowledge value added (KVA) validation, the proposed KM model provides a new operating system for sharing NSD knowledge within an organization. Through the case study by measuring the achieved financial results, the proposed KM model is found to provide an exclusive hybrid platform with an empirical process model to address innovative approaches and practical values of KM within an organization.